Call for Papers: Failed and Failing States in Africa - Cornell
University, 04/08
Call for papers
FAILED AND FAILING STATES IN AFRICA :
LESSONS FROM DARFUR AND BEYOND
April 18-19, 2008, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
A collapsed state, according to William Zartman, is a "situation where the structure,
authority (legitimate power), law and political order have fallen apart and must be
reconstituted in some form, old or new." The former Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Boutros Boutros Ghali, described the situation prevailing in a failed state as "a
feature of such conflicts is the collapse of state institutions, especially the police and
judiciary, with resulting paralysis of governance, a breakdown of law and order, and
general banditry and chaos. Not only are the functions of government suspended, but its
assets are destroyed or looted." In a collapsed state the regime finally wears out its
ability to satisfy the demands of the various groups in society, fails to govern and to
keep the state together. The collapse is marked by the loss of control over political and
economic space. A collapsed state can no longer perform its basic security and
development functions and has no effective control over its territory and borders.
State collapse is one of the major threats to peace, stability, and economic
development in Sub-Sahara Africa today. 1 As Christopher Clapham observes, while we must
not over-generalize, in Sub-Sahara Africa there are a "… distressingly large number
of states in which acceptable political formulae have not been developed, and that remain
vulnerable to collapse, or have actually collapsed."5 The states are not only unable to
develop a stable political system but lack administrative capacity to govern effectively
and to ignite sustainable economic development. The weakness of the African state was most
obvious in the periphery of state systems. Thus, while the core of the state, typically
centered on the capital, weakens through mismanagement and political failure, pressure
from the periphery forces on the center causes state collapse. The consequences of failed
states include conflicts, war, and refugees. The effects, as is the case with Darfur,
often spill over into neighboring states.
Since 1956 Sudan has experienced civil wars with only brief intervals of relative
peace. More than 2 and a half million people have been killed and many more displaced in
the continuous war between successive governments of the north and peoples of the south.
Darfurians took up arms against the Sudanese government in 2003 accusing it of decades of
discrimination and neglect. The Sudanese government is accused of retaliating by
unleashing a militia group, the janjaweed, against the people of Darfur. The United
Nations has labeled the situation as the greatest humanitarian crisis of the modern
era.
Major challenges confront efforts to avoid collapsed states drawing other countries
into a wider conflict and to create structures and favorable conditions to lead to
national reconciliation and the reconstruction of a state that has collapsed.
The Cornell Institute for African Development (IAD) will hold a Symposium, April 18-19,
2008 at Cornell to examine the crisis of collapsed states under the theme: Failed and
Failing States in Africa: Lessons from Darfur and Beyond. The major focus of the Symposium
will not only be to do a diagnostic study of elements that lead to the collapse of states
but also to go beyond and evaluate the imperfect state construction that exists in some
states in Africa, the causes and consequences of failed states and effectiveness of
reconstruction efforts of these collapsed states Proceedings of the Symposium will be
published. Cornell will pay for all travel and accommodation-related expenses. The
deadline for submission is February 20, 2008.
The sub-themes are:
Session I:
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State’s Vulnerability to Collapse, the Nature, Causes and Consequences of Failed States
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Session II:
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Social, Political, Religious, Economic and
Ecological Dimensions of Failed States and the De-Legitimization of the State |
Session III: Case Studies of Failed States and the Rights of Minorities
Session IV: The Peace Process, Peace Keeping, and the Reconstruction of States
Session V: Internal and Regional Actors and Failed States and the Role of Civil
Society in Post Conflict Environments
Jackie Sayegh
Program Manager
Institute for African Development
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Cornell University
170 Uris Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel: (607) 255-6849
www.einaudi.cornell.edu/Africa
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.